The Gated Community: Heaven’s Open Gates
Hells gates are shut in fear, but Heaven’s gates stand perpetually open so that all may receive the blessings of Jesus.
Theology Seeking Eschatology
Hells gates are shut in fear, but Heaven’s gates stand perpetually open so that all may receive the blessings of Jesus.
Hermeneutics / Exegesis / Featured
by Tommy Keene · Published October 24, 2022 · Last modified July 13, 2023
In other words, while the Bible is always extra-ordinary, it is such through the use of the ordinary ways that human beings speak to one another. It is supernatural revelation that God has given in natural language. The Bible is special and unique, but it is not special and unique in this way, that is, in the manner by which it communicates truth to human beings. That’s why the Westminster Standards go on to describe the meaning of the Bible as accessible “through a due use of ordinary means” (WCF 1.7).
As we question our souls we are really just turning Scripture inward. In the end, it’s God that asks the questions. We are involved in the process, investigation ourselves on his behalf, as it were, but in the end we can only know ourselves in so far as God begins the inquiry.
Research isn’t about gathering data. Research is a conversation, one in which you are both a contributor and a moderator.
After multiple readings, we can get “stuck in a rut;” we grow content with our prior understanding of the text and are unable to see things anew. One way to see the text differently is to see it from a different angle. Deliberately switch your reading posture (both figuratively and possibly literally).